The Giza Power Plant (24 page)

F
IGURE
37.
Beam Tuning

Smyth and Petrie unwittingly provided clues that this resonance theory not only may be plausible, but indeed may be probable. Both sought an explanation for the holes gouged near the ends of these granite beams. Smyth said, "These markings, moreover, have only been discovered in those dark holes or hollows, the so-called 'chambers: but much rather 'hollows of construction: broken into by Colonel Howard-Vyse above the 'King's Chamber' of the Great Pyramid. There, also, you see other traces of the steps of mere practical work, such as the 'bat-holes' in the stones, by which the heavy blocks were doubtless lifted to their places, and everything is left perfectly
rough."
⁴
Rather than seeing them as holes used for lifting the blocks into place, Petrie speculated on an alternate reason for Smyth's so-called "bat-holes"; "The flooring of the top chamber has large holes in it, evidently to hold the butt ends of beams which supported the sloping roof-blocks during the
building."
⁵

Neither Smyth's nor Petrie's explanations are particularly satisfactory. The most likely and logical reason for the holes gouged near the end of the beam may have been to strategically weaken the beam in order for it to respond more readily to sound input. According to Boris Said, who was with engineer Tom Danley when he conducted his acoustical tests inside the King's Chamber, the King's Chamber's granite beams resonated at a fundamental frequency and the entire structure of the chamber reinforced this frequency by producing dominant frequencies that created an F-sharp chord. Not surprisingly, the F-sharp chord is believed to be in harmony with the Earth. While testing for frequency, Danley placed accelerometers in the spaces above the King's Chamber, but I do not know whether he went as far as checking the frequency of each beam. Said said something in his interview with Art Bell that may be some indication of where Danley was heading with his research: He said that the beams above the King's Chamber were "like baffles in a speaker." Further research would need to be conducted before any assertion could be made as to the relationship these holes may have with tuning these beams to a specific frequency. However, when we consider the characteristics of the entire granite complex, along with other features found in the Great Pyramid, it seems clear that the results of this research will be along the lines of what I am theorizing.

Without confirmation that the granite beams were carefully tuned to respond to a precise frequency, I will infer that such a condition exists in light of what is found in the area. While I have not found any specific record of anyone striking the beams above the King's Chamber and measuring their resonant frequencies, there has been quite a lot written about the resonating qualities of the coffer inside the chamber itself. The coffer is said to resonate at 438 hertz and is at resonance with the resonant frequency of the chamber. This is easily tested and has been noted by numerous visitors to the Great Pyramid, including myself.

Another interesting discovery was made by the Schor expedition. This is a preliminary report, told to Art Bell by Boris Said: It was discovered that the floor of the King's Chamber does not sit on solid rock. Not only is the entire granite complex surrounded by massive limestone walls with a space between the granite and the limestone, the floor itself sits on what is characterized as "corrugated" rock (see Figure 38). Acoustical analysis of the floor
of the King's Chamber (by Danley) revealed that the flooring blocks are not sitting on solid masonry. There are pockets beneath the floor that indicate that the support for the floor is "corrugated" like an egg carton, with the flooring sitting on nodes. In addition, the walls of the chamber do not sit on the granite floor, but are supported from the outside and sunk five inches below floor level. The entire complex is freestanding from the limestone masonry, has minimal damping of the floor, and is thus free to vibrate at peak efficiency. It is no wonder the entire chamber "rings" while tourists walk around inside!

F
IGURE
38.
Floor of the King's Chamber

The granite complex inside the Great Pyramid, therefore, is poised ready to convert vibrations from the Earth into electricity. What is lacking is a sufficient amount of energy to drive the beams and activate the piezoelectric properties within them. The ancients, though, had anticipated the need for more energy than what would be collected only within the King's Chamber. They had determined that they needed to tap into the vibrations of the Earth over a larger area inside the pyramid and deliver that energy to the power center—the King's Chamber—thereby substantially increasing the amplitude of the oscillations of the granite.

Modern concert halls are designed and built to interact with the instruments performing within. They are huge musical instruments in themselves. The Great Pyramid can be seen as a huge musical instrument with each element designed to enhance the performance of the other.

While modern research into architectural acoustics might focus predominantly upon minimizing the reverberation effects of sound in enclosed spaces, there is reason to believe that the ancient pyramid builders were attempting to achieve the opposite. The Grand Gallery, which is considered to be an architectural masterpiece, is an enclosed space in which resonators were installed in the slots along the ledge that runs the length of the gallery. As the Earth's vibration flowed through the Great Pyramid, the resonators converted the vibrational energy to airborne sound. By design, the angles and surfaces of the Grand Gallery walls and ceiling caused reflection of the sound, and its focus into the King's Chamber. Although the King's Chamber also was responding to the energy flowing through the pyramid, much of the energy would flow past it. The specific design and utility of the Grand Gallery was to transfer the energy flowing through a large area of the pyramid into the resonant King's Chamber. This sound was then focused into the granite resonating cavity at sufficient amplitude to drive the granite ceiling beams to oscillation. These beams, in turn, compelled the beams above them to resonate in harmonic sympathy. Thus, with the input of sound and the maximization of resonance, the entire granite complex, in effect, became a vibrating mass of energy.

Sound farfetched? Not if we realize that many isolated aspects of this proposed phenomenon have been noted by visitors and researchers over the years. In particular, the acoustic qualities of the design of the upper chambers
of the Great Pyramid have been referenced and confirmed by numerous visitors since the time of Napoleon, whose men discharged their pistols at the top of the Grand Gallery and noted that the explosion reverberated into the distance like rolling thunder. Strike the coffer inside the King's Chamber and you will hear a deep bell-like sound of incredible and eerie beauty. It has been a practice over the years for the Arab guides to demonstrate this resonating sound to the tourists they guide through the Great Pyramid. This sound was even included on Paul Horn's album,
Inside the Great Pyramid.
After being advised of the significant pitch produced by striking the coffer, and the chamber's response to this pitch, Horn took along a device that would allow him to replicate the exact pitch and frequency. Horn struck the coffer and tuned his flute to the tone that was emitted, which turned out to be the note A—which vibrates at 438 cycles per second. In a fascinating booklet about his experiment at the Great Pyramid, Horn described his experience in the inner chambers: "The moment had arrived. It was time to play my flute. I thought of Ben Peitcsh from Santa Rosa, California, and his suggestions to strike the coffer. I leaned over and hit the inside with the fleshy part of the side of my fist. A beautiful round tone was immediately produced. What a resonance! I remember him also saying when you hear that tone you will be (poised in history that is ever present.' I took the electronic tuning device I had brought along in one hand and struck the coffer again with the other and there it was—'A' 438, just as Ben predicted. I tuned up to this pitch and was ready to begin. [The album opens with these events so that you can hear all of these things for
yourselves.]"
⁶

And, indeed, the sound that Paul Horn brought into my living room was most fascinating. Listening to it, I could understand why so many people develop feelings of reverence when hearing it, for it has a most soothing effect on the nerves. For this alone, the album was worth the price. Horn himself described the effects this sound had on him: "Sitting on the floor in front of the coffer with the stereo mike in the centre of the room, I began to play, choosing the alto flute to begin with. The echo was wonderful, about eight seconds. The chamber responded to every note equally. I waited for the echo to decay and then played again. Groups of notes would suspend and all come back as a chord. Sometimes certain notes would stick out more than others. It was always changing. I just listened and responded as if I were
playing with another musician. I hadn't prepared anything specific to play. I was just opening myself to the moment and improvising. All of the music that evening was this way—totally improvised. Therefore, it is a true expression of the feelings that
transpired."
⁷

After noting the eerie qualities of the King's and Queen's Chambers, Horn went out onto the Great Step at the top of the Grand Gallery to continue his sound test. The Grand Gallery, he reported, sounded rather flat compared with the other chambers, but then he heard something remarkable: The music he was playing was coming back to him clearly and distinctly from the King's Chamber. The sound was going out into the Grand Gallery and was being reflected through the passageway and reverberating inside the King's Chamber!

Horn does not attempt to explain this acoustical phenomenon, but it is tied in with the phenomena noted inside the King's Chamber. It would follow, therefore, that the coffer inside the King's Chamber was specifically tuned to a precise frequency, and that the chamber itself was scientifically engineered to resonate in harmony with sound waves that were generated in the Grand Gallery and focused into it. Perhaps these observations will provide an answer to Horn's experience and to a mystery that Petrie puzzled over at great length. He discovered a flint pebble under the coffer, after he raised it, and instead of dismissing it as debris or otherwise, he mulled over its significance. He wrote:

The flint pebble that had been put under the coffer is important. If any person wished at present to prop the coffer up, there are multitudes of stone chips in the pyramid ready to hand. Therefore, fetching a pebble from the outside seems to show that the coffer was first lifted at a time when no breakages had been made in the pyramid, and there were no chips lying about. This suggests that there was some means of access to the upper chambers, which are always available by removing loose blocks without any forcing. If the stones at the top of the shaft leading from the subterranean part to the gallery had been cemented in place, they must have been smashed to break through them, or if there were granite portcullises in the Antechamber, they must also have been destroyed; and it is not likely that any person
would take the trouble to fetch a large flint pebble into the innermost part of the Pyramid, if there were stone chips lying in
his path.
⁸

If Petrie says that something is important, I tend to take notice of what he is talking about. Nonetheless, I am not convinced that this pebble could
not
have been brought into the King's Chamber long after the Great Pyramid was built and used to prop up the coffer so that it could be moved. On the other hand, Petrie does pose another alternative that deserves some speculation, and I cannot help wondering if it is possible that the pebble served a greater purpose for those who placed it there. If we had just manufactured an object like the coffer and had it tuned to vibrate at a precise frequency, we would know that to set it flat on the floor would dampen the vibrations somewhat. By raising one end of the coffer onto the pebble, however, it could vibrate at peak efficiency.